For a baseball player to develop batting skills, it is necessary that he learn a proper stance with respect to home plate and a proper stride toward the pitcher's mound as he swings his bat at a pitched ball. The batter's stance is the ready position which the batter assumes as he awaits the pitch. It is important that the batter stands facing home plate with his feet spaced apart enough to provide him maximum balance and still to permit him to stride into the ball as he swings his bat.
The batter's stride is the step which he takes with his leading foot (the foot nearest the pitcher's mound as the batter stands facing home plate) away from his stationary pivot foot toward the pitcher's mound as he swings at the ball. It is important that the batter take his stride step in order to place his full weight into his swing to obtain maximum impact on a pitched ball.
It is essential, however, that the stride be relatively short. Experienced baseball players have found that the length of the stride (i.e., the distance which the batter moves his leading foot from his stance position toward the pitcher's mound as he swings his bat) should be 6 inches or less, depending upon the size of the player. If the batter "over strides" as he swings, the forward movement of his leading leg lowers his upper body. Therefore at the moment the pitched ball is crossing the impact zone, the overstriding batter carries his head down, placing his eyes on a different plane than they were when he was in his stance position. The result is that the batter's perception of the path of the pitched ball radically changes at the time the ball is being hit, thereby making it difficult if not impossible for him to correctly judge the pitch.
The present invention is a training device for teaching the batter a proper stance and stride. Prior art stance and stride teaching devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,478 have been difficult to use because they have not been adjustable to the requirements of individual batters. Furthermore, the prior art training devices have often been rigid and bulky and therefore more limited in use due to their poor portability.
The stance and stride training device of the present invention is adjustable to accommodate the batter's size and is, at the same time, foldable into a light-weight compact carrying package. The device can be used in-doors or out and requires very little space when in use.